Ideophone

The Ideophone form in many languages ​​a class of words that have phonological and morphological peculiarities and refer to onomatopoeic nature of their significance, for example Ewe lilili " pleasant smell " (for example, reduplication and consonant sequences that are otherwise uncommon in the language ).

A frequently cited definition is found in Doke ( 1935:119 ): " A vivid representation of an idea in sound shape a word, often a Onomatopoetikon which is a verb, an adjective or an adverb in respect to manner, color, sound. smell, action, state or intensity describes. " ( Translation by the author )

Ideophone are known mainly from Africa but also from other languages ​​continents ( Australia, Southeast Asia, South America, Finno- Ugric languages), they have ( see the articles in the collection of Voeltz & Kilian - Hatz 2001).

Example: Kenga

In the dictionary of Palayer ( 2004) for the language Kenga (Chad) 150 Ideophone recorded ( there are certainly more). All entries have in common, to end in a consonant, while nouns and verbs all end in a vowel. Many can be reduplicated.

The Ideophone in Kenga are often used as adverbs, that is, combined with a verb, compare the following example with the meaning " The calabash is completely gone to pieces ."

Ideophone and onomatopoeia

The demarcation of the onomatopoeia is unclear; their meaning ranges overlap. The following features may be facing:

Common to both is a phonologically distinctive sound shape, and the ability to appear in different parts of speech (especially adverbs, but also nouns and verbs).